Camera supporting pedestal



June 17, 1941. A. v. BEDFORD HAL 246, 7

CAMERA SUPPORTING PEDESTAL Original Filed Nov. 5, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1W M H J. 6 j v 4 4 L A. w

' INVENTORS ALDA V."'BEDFORD AND BY JfNUT J. MAGNUSSON ATTORNEY June 17,1941. A. v. BEDFORD ETAL CAMERA SUPPORTING PEDESTAL Original Fiied Nov.5,1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS ALDA ;v. BEDFORD AND BYKNUT/JZMAGNUSSON ATTORN EY Patented June 17, 1941 2,24c,2 s1 CAMERASUPPORTING PEDESTAL Aida v. Bedl'ord, Collingswood, and Knut J.Magnusson, Merchantville, N. J., assignors to Radio Corporation oiAmerica, a corporation of Delaware Original application November 5,1936, Serial No.

Divided and this application September 30, 1937, Serial No. 166,477

1 Claim. (Cl. z4s'-1ss) The present invention is a division of ourapplication Serial No. 109,390 flied November 5, 1936 and relates totelevision camera structures and particularly to that portion of thecamera which is known in the art as a television camera dolly and whichis used to carry or support the camera equipment by which the opticalimage is converted into electrical signals which at receiving pointsproduce an electro-optical representation of the subject at thetransmission point.

It has long been established from the motion picture industry that forthe purpose of changing from remote to close-up shots or vice versa orfor the purpose of tilting or changing from a low viewing point of thesubject to an elevated viewing point or for the purpose of obtainingpanoramic views, it is desirable to provide ways and means by which thefilm taking equipment can be moved about from place to place in order toaccomplish these ends in a most suitable and convenient manner.

However, many reasons present themselves for making such known forms ofmotion picture ap-- paratus not satisfactory or suitable for televisionpractice. Among the difllculties which present themselves in televisionpractice are those which are due to the necessity of a great number ofelectric cables connected to the camera device. Also,

apparatus of this nature must be entirely free as well as shielded fromboth electrical and audible disturbances which would otherwise spoil orruin the resultant picture and/or sound transmission. In addition,compact apparatus is desirable in order to lend more flexibility todevelopment trends since compactness of apparatus which includes allnecessary control features permits full and complete control by a singleoperator.

The features of the camera equipment per se are described and claimed ina co-pending application flled by the present inventors on even dateherewith. In the co-pending application, the relationship between theview finding and focussing arrangements the internal cabinetconstruction and the camera per se, and other related features,havefibeen described and claimed. The present invention is,howeven'directed more particularly to the manner by which the cameraequipment may be moved about from place to place and set and adjusted tosuch positions as to provide for obtaining all desired types of views. 4

In general, the subject-matter of the present invention is directed tothe apparatus and means for providing different elevations of thetelevision camera equipment. It is also concerned with suitablearrangements to provide for the taking of,

panoramic views and tilting of the taken view to diiferent angles. Thecamera equipment itself is heavy and suitable ways and means areprovided to compensate for the shifting of the camera weight due totilting. In motion picture practice, it has been customary to provide acounter-balancing boom to balance the weight of the tilted camera butwith television camera equipment which can be controlled by a singleoperator such type construction is not desirable. Accordingly, thisinvention provides resilient or mechanical means to compensate andequalize any shifting of the camera weight with respect to the axis ofsupport so that the camera shall at all times be perfectly balancedirrespective of its position of tilt.

At the same time, in order to prevent too rapidly shifting scenes,provision must be made by which to insure only relatively slow movementof the television camera withrespect to the viewed object so that theresultant picture transmitted will not appear jumpy. Accordingly, waysand means are disclosed in the present application by which for slowmovements of the camera the apthemselves to those skilled in the art towhich the invention is directed by reading the following specificationand claimin connection with the several figures of the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of the pedestal as seen on a cutting planecontaining a major axis, an

Fig. 2 is a perspective view.

The general shape of the pedestal may best be seen from the perspectiveshown in Fig. 2. In general, the pedestal is comprised of three radiallyextended arm members spaced apart from each other and each extendingradially from a vertically positioned housing containing a tubularshaped receptacle, the latter being used to accommodate the elevatingtelescoping mechanism. The arm members referred to are located at thebase of the pedestal and are joined to veach other by three plane facedt'riangularly shaped metallic members. hers is a supporting wheelcontaining a sprocket, the function of which will be explainedhereinafter. The radial arm members are preferably Joined to each of theradial arm memhollowed except at their extremity where the sprocketwheel is accommodated, the hollow feature being used in order to makethe arm form both a housing and support member for the apparatus foroperating the steering means and for the elevating means which supportsthe object to be accommodated by the pedestal. Joined to the uprighttubular receptacled member at the center of the pedestal is a tubulararm extending around in a substantially semi-circular fashion andagainst which an operator may push in order to move the pedestal on itswheels or rest in pulling the camera in order to make smoother theactual movement, the pedestal being of a type which is particularlyadaptable for the support of motion picture cameras, television cameras,etc., so that mobility plays an important part.

Referring to Fig. 1, the radial arm members to are joined to an uprighthousing II which is tubularly hollowed at its center portion, fittinginto the tubular opening is a hollow first or outer member of a hightorsional constant. One end of the spring is joined fixedly to onesection of the bearing plate 85 and the other end of the spring isjoined to a crank lever 42. The end of this crank lever is joined to ascrew arrangement 43 and thus by means of changing the position of thescrew arrangement 43, the crank rotates for a limited number of degrees.The

' zero position" of the resilient spring member tubular member I? and asecond or inner hollow tubular member [3. The tubular members andreceptacle are in this particular case cylindrically shaped, but it willbe appreciated that their shape might be other than circular, such asrectangular, hexagonal, or the like. The two tubular members l2 and 13form the telescopic elevating mechanism for the plate 20 to which theobject to be supported by the pedestal is secured.

Spaced between the first and second tubular members l2 and 13respectively is a hollow tube shaped member H which is joined at oneextremity to a gear l5 and whose other extremity is supported inposition between the two cylinders. This latter tubular member I4 isslotted,

and inserted in the member is a keyed rod arm,

I6 which extends upwardly past the extremity of the first tubulartelescopic elevating member I2 where it is joined to a lever arm 11.-The gear I5 is placed in co-operat'ive relationship to a driven gear l8which is rigidly connected axially with one of the sprocket members I9.The sprocket members on each of the wheels are joined together by asprocket chain, not shown in this figure, and the gear arrangement l5,I8, the hollow slotted tube I4 and the keyed rod arm l6 and lever arm Hfrom the steering mechanism to guide the pedestal during mobility.

As has been stated hereinbefore, the object to be supported, which inthis case is assumed to be a television camera, is secured to asupporting plate member 20. This plate member contains apertures intowhich may fit pins from a mounting plate on the bottom of the camera, orthe camera mounting plate may have recesses which may fit into a numberof pin members 36 of which one is shown here. The plate member 20 issecured to a supporting member 31 which forms a part of the so-calledpanning means or traversing means for the camera. These traversing meansare supported on a bearing surface 38 which is joined to the innertubular member l3 and on which the camera may traverse.

Also joined to the supporting plate 20 is a housing member 39, a part ofwhich is in cooperative relationship with a bearing 40, the axis of thebearing being located at right angles to the major axis of the pedestal.This arrangement forms the tilting arrangement for the camera. Insidethe housing 39 is a resilient member 4|, which in one form may be aspring 4| which acts as a counter-balancing spring is thus changed. Thecamera may be locked in any position of tilt by means of a take-upknurled headed screw and spring arrangement such as the panning lock 44which then obviously will lock the member 45, a part of the tiltingsystem, from further rotation or the member 86 of Fig. 2 which is thelocking arrangement used, comprising a feed-in locking screw member.

The object of having an adjustable counterbalancing spring, such asillustrated at 4!, is to provide for counterbalancing additional weightssuch as the extra telescopic lenses which are ofttimes desirable for usewith the television cam era. With such an arrangement, the initialposition of the spring may be so fixed that for all positions of tiltingof the camera, a perfect counter-balance is obtained despite thecomparatively large weight involved.

Between bearing members 85 and 38 and also between the surfacescomprising the tilting bearing, it has been customary to use a bearinggrease whose viscosity is very high, so that the force necessary tocause motion of the bearing increases with the velocity of the motion.The grease has been formed of a combination of a viscous grease and aresin, and if the camera is traversed slowly, the restraining force islow, whereas it an attempt is made to traverse the camera quickly therestraining force is very high. This allows an even traversing of thecamera. The keys on the outer surfaces of the two telescoping tubularmembers are shown in this view as 41 and 48. The relative position oftubular members I! and I3 is clearly shown in this diagram. The locationof the slotted tubular member I4 forming a part of the steeringmechanism and the keyed arm 5 is also shown. The winding form 3| isshown in its relative position to the rest of the upright section of thepedestal.

Referring to Fig. 2, there is shown a perspective view of the pedestalin a bold arrangement and a perspective of the camera which it isadapted to support as a phantom arrangement in order to give a completeview of the entire arrangement.

What is claimed is:

In a mobile pedestal structure for television cameras wherein the camerato be supported is secured to a supporting member carried by saidpedestal, a bearing member fixed to said supporting pedestal and adaptedto support said supporting member, tilting means co-operativelyassociated with said bearing member, means for raising and lowering saidpedestal, means for tilting and moving said camera to be supported KNUTJ. MACrNUSSON.

